Jack



- A. J. RICKER 2,185,476

JACK

Filed M 5, 1958 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES JACK Adolph J. Richer, South Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Badger Malleable & Mfg. Company, South Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application May 5, 1938, Serial .No. 206,159

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in jacks.

It is the object of the invention to provide a jack suitable for use in connection with tractors and other vehicles and for other purposes wherein a long lever is provided to enable the jack to be operated at a point well beneath the body of the vehicle, a control for the holding pawl being extended along the handle to the position normally occupied by the operators hand so that the holding pawl may conveniently and safely be retracted when it is desired to lower the jack.

Further objects of the invention include the provision and means for achieving the above purposes safely, simply, and economically, as will appear more fully from the disclosure of the following specification and drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a view partially in side elevation and partially broken away to a longitudinal section to expose the operating mechanism as it appears with the jack support stationary in a raised position.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of the parts as they appear in side elevation with the handle starting downward on a jack lowering stroke.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary detail view taken in section through the handle on the line 33 of Fi 1. I

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

The jack comprises a generally conventional arrangement in which the base 3 carries a standard 4 providing a guideway in which the toothed post 5 is vertically reciprocable to lift the load imposed on any one of the saddles 6, 1 or 8.

The standard A has the general form of a channel but is cut away at its rear upper portion to expose the teeth 9 of the post and to provide a cam surface It for actuating the lifting pawl I2. The lifting pawl comprises the central part of a yoke 45 suspended at its ends by bolts Hi from the short end of the handle lever ll. The handle lever is fulcrumed on a bolt 18 which extends through the ears carried by the jack column. Also pivoted on bolts l8, and disposed between the ears i9, is the holding pawl 20 which is normally thrust by spring 2! into engagement with one of the teeth of the jack post 5.

A control member 25 connected with holding pawl 20 extends along the lever ll to the terminal handle portion 26 thereof and is there provided with some convenient finger operable connection such as the loop 21. An eye bolt or the like at 28 on the lever ll serves as a guide in which the control member 25, in this case a wire link, is supported and is permitted the necessary longitudinal movement and the slight degree of oscillatory movement required in the 6 manipulation of the lever.

During the lifting operation of the jack it functions normally in accordance with conventional practice. The handle H is oscillated up and down. At each upstroke the lifting pawl in 12 engages beneath a tooth of the post and lifts the post. When the post has been lifted for a distance corresponding to the stroke of the lever, the lever is oscillated upwardly and the tendency of the post to descend is checked by the holding dog Zll.

During the continued oscillation of the jack lever l? the control member 25 is left free and will move relatively to the lever, reciprocating back and forth through the guide 28 as the lever oscillates.

When it is desired to lower the jack the lever is lifted to substantially the position shown in Fig, 2, whereupon the control member will have reciprocated through the guide into sufii- 35 ciently close proximity to the operators hand to be engaged by his forefinger as shown. With the operator holding the control member 25 in this position he lowers the handle from its Fig. 2 position, thus pulling the holding pawl 20 from 30 the tooth 9 with which it is engaged to support the load. The withdrawal of the holding pawl from beneath this tooth drops the post 5 and the load sustained thereby on to the lifting pawl l2, and the handle is now permitted to swing upwardly under pressure of the post 5 to lower the load one tooth. In such upward movement of the lever the holding pawl 20 will, notwithstanding its retraction, be forced into the space below the next tooth of the post to receive the weight of the post and the load imposed thereon when the lifting pawl i2 is ejected from engagement with the post by the cam surface Ill. From this extreme position of the lever H the lever is now moved downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2 to repeat the cycle and lower the post another tooth, the operators finger being used continuously to maintain the retracted position of the holding pawl 20.

Such a construction as that disclosed has the merit of being extremely inexpensive and at the same time reliably effective to control the raising and lowering of the jack post with perfect safety to the operator nothwithstanding the overhang of the body. But for the control member 25 the operator would, to manipulate this type of jack, be obliged to reach under the vehicle to directly retract the holding pawl 20 with one hand while manipulating the lever I'Lwith the other hand for the lowering operation.

I claim:

1. In a jack, the combination with a post, of a column in which said post is reciprocable, a lever pivoted to said column and provided with post elevating means, a holding detent pivotally mounted on said column and engageable with said post for maintaining it in elevated positions, spring means providing a relatively fixed bias urging said detent toward said post, a link connected with said detent and extending along said lever, and a guide for said link connected with said lever and in which said link is normally reciprocated by relative movement between detent and lever during the manipulation of said lever for post elevation, said link comprising means for transmitting to said detent the same movement manually imparted to said lever, whereby said link is constrained to actuate said detent against said bias in the course of lever movement for the lowering of said post.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a jack comprising a post, a column in which the post is reciprocable, and a holding detent for maintaining said post in an elevated position, of a lever pivoted to said column and including means for post elevation therein and for lowering said post on retraction of said detent, said column including a cam surface engageable by said means in one position of said I lever for the displacement of said means to post releasing position, guide means carried by said lever at a point remote from said column, and a control member connected with said detent and extending along said lever through said guide means, said detent being biased toward a position of engagement with said post whereby in the normal manipulation of said lever to raise the post said detent holds said control member and the guide means reciprocates thereon, said control member having a terminal ring exposed adjacent the end of said lever for manipulation by the same hand with which the lever is manipulated, whereby the motion of the operators hand in manipulating the lever may be concurrently transmitted to said control member for the manipulation of said detent with said lever against its bias to release the post for lowering movement.

3. In a jack, the combination with a post provided with teeth and a column providing a guide- Way for said post, of a lever pivoted to said column and provided with a lifting pawl engageable with successive teeth of the post, a detent dog pivoted with respect to said column and having a predetermined bias for engagement with successive teeth of said post, a wire control member pivotally connected with said dog and extending along said lever toward the end thereof remote from said column, guide means in which said control member is reciprocable respecting said lever by relative movement between the dog and said lever in the lifting of the jack post, and a handle carried by said control member adjacent the handle portion of said lever, whereby said control member is subject to manipulation concurrently with the manipulation of said lever by the operators single hand to restrain said control member for movement with said lever, whereby to retract said dog periodically against said bias to permit the lowering of said post.

' 4. In a jack, the combination with a post provided with teeth and a column providing a guideway for said post, of a lever pivoted to the column and provided with a lifting pawl engageable with successive teeth of the post in the course of lever reciprocation, means engageable with said pawl in the movement of said lever in one direction for disengaging said pawl from the teeth of the post, a dog pivoted with respect to the column and engageable with successive teeth of the post, a control member pivotally connected with said dog at a point spaced from said lever and extending thence along the lever toward the end thereof remote from the column, guide means in which the control member is reciprocable respecting the lever in the course of lever operation, and means for holding the control member against reciprocation relative to said lever, where: by during the manipulation of the lever the motion imparted by the operators hand is trans-. mitted to said detent dog for the retraction thereof from successive teeth of said post.

5. In a jack, the combination with a post provided with teeth and a column providing a guideway for said post, of a lever pivoted to said column and provided remote from said column with a handle portion, a lifting dog connected with said lever and engageable with successive teeth of the post upon the reciprocation of the lever, means carried by said column for releasing said lifting dog from tooth engagement in a position of,said lever adjacent its lower extreme, a detent dog pivoted with the respective column and engageable with successive teeth of the post, said detent dog being adapted to receive the support of the post when a post tooth is released by said pawl, a control member pivotally connected with said dog at a point spaced from the pivot of said lever and extending along said lever toward its handle portion, guide means in which the control member is reciprocable along saidlever during the lifting of said post, and a handle carried by the control member adjacent the handle portionof the lever to be grasped by the same hand of the operator with which the lever is manipulated as a means of constraining the control member for movement with the lever, whereby to oscillate said detent dog in accordance with lever oscillationon its pivot. ADOLPH J. RICKER. 

